Hosiery construction



United States Patent C) HOSIERY CONSTRUCTION Hugh M. Grey, Concord, N.C., assignor, by direct and mesne assignments, to Alamance Industries,Inc., Concord, N. C., and Ridgeview Hosiery Mills Company, lInc.,Newton, N. C., both corporations of North Caroina Application April 14,1954, Serial No. 423,131

2 Claims. (Cl. 66-172) This invention relates to an elastic band andmore particularly to hosiery .articles having an elastic band.

It has been known to provide an elastic band between the knee and thewelt of a stocking by combining the comparatively inelastic yarn of therest of the stocking fabric with relatively elastic yarn, such ascovered rubber or supertwisted nylon yarn. Provisions are made to reducecurling in the transverse direction.

The rather involved patterns incorporated in these prior art elasticbands require special operations in their manufacture, such as thetransfer of stitches for the formation of ladders and runners in varyingcombinations. This considerably complicates the knitting process.Further these operations are not readily adaptable to round knittingmachines.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a simple knittedstructure of inherent elasticity in all directions.

It is another object of the present invention to provide such astructure which may be readily produced on a flat or round knittingmachine.

It is a further object of this invention to provide such a structurehaving an unusually pleasing appearance.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such astructure as a band within a surrounding fabric having substantially notendency to curl or bunch in any direction.

The elastic knitted structure may be knitted from any yarn. However,preferably elastic yarn, such as covered rubber or supertwisted elasticnylon yarn is used to improve the elastic properties of the finishedproduct.

The knitted structure according to this invention suitably combinesloops of different sizes. These loops may be arranged in any suitablemanner, for instance, each course may consist of loops of various sizes,and subsequent courses may or may not follow the same pattern.Alternatively, each course may consist of substantially equal sizeloops, while the walewise arrangement of the loop sizes follows asuitable sequence.

The knitted structure with which this invention is concerned may beadvantageously incorporated in hosiery articles. Particularly it may beknitted into the afterwelt of a stocking of either the full fashioned orthe seamless type to permit stretching as required. It may be used inknee-length stockings or in socks at any section where elasticity isconsidered of advantage.

When used in the afterwelt of a stocking, it is important that theseknitted structures not only prevent contraction of the improved elasticband compared to the surrounding fabric, which would result inobjectionable curling, but may be designed to considerably contribute tothe appealing appearance of the stocking. Thus a decorative effect may,for instance, be secured by a suitable sequence of loosely and tightlyknit courses.

In a preferred and especially simple embodiment of pleasing appearance,the loops in each course are of the same size, courses of only twodifferent size loops are being used, and tighter and looser knit coursesalternate in a regular sequence. The sets of adjacent courses ofsubstantially equal size loops may consist of one or more courses asdesired.

A stocking embodying the invention will now be described with referenceto the accompanying drawing, and the features forming the invention willthen be pointed out in the appended claims.

Fig. l is a plan view of a top of a stocking incorporating an elasticband according to the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view of a section of the elastic band illustratingalternating tightly and loosely knitted courses; and

Fig. 3 is a still further enlarged view of a small section of theelastic band.

In the embodiment illustrated, the elastic band 3 is formed by coursesof substantially equal size loops arranged in pairs. Only two dilferentsize loops are being used so that the resulting walewise `sequencealternates two tightly knit loops 1 with two loosely knit loops 2.

An eifective elastic band may for instance consist of a sequence ofeighty courses, where two loosely knit courses alternate with twotightly knit courses. It will be understood that this structure willreadily distort to adapt to any strain exerted thereon, thereby assuringelasticity in all directions. Further a horizontal ribbing pattern ofpleasing appearance is obtained.

As will be apparent, the stitch structure shown is one capable ofproduction with or without machinery and by any of a variety of knittingtechniques. It may be produced upon a full fashion knitting machine orotherwise incorporated in a full fashioned stocking. However, in suchstockings a variety of techniques is available for loosening up andadjusting the structure of an elastic zone, .as by the use of points fortransferring or dropping stitches in a desired sequence. Such techniquesare not, however, applicable to the products of circular knittingmachines, in which the present invention will accordingly be found mostadvantageous. If the knitting of the stocking be visualized as a handprocess performed on knitting needles in the usual way, it will beapparent that all that is required is the substitution periodically andat -suitable intervals of larger and smaller needles so as to Vary theloop size, as required. Where the structure is produced upon a circularknitting machine the same result is very simply obtained by varying theneedle stroke so as to produce loops of varying length.

Since a circular knit stocking is a continuous spiraling structure ithas no distinct courses as such. However, a sequence of loops startingat any point and coming back to the starting point, even though nowdisplaced Wale-wise by one loop length, may be considered as being acourse. It will also be apparent that, Without any diiculty whatsoever,the longer and shorter loops may be.

interpolated in course-wise sequences which are fractions or fractionalmultiples of a course length instead of integral multiples of the lengthof a course, and that by interpositioning these sequences Wale-wise, anunlimited Variety of structural patterns may be obtained.

What is claimed is:

l. A stocking having an integrally knit band of elastic yarn positionedabove the knee, the band being circular knit so as to form a continuousspiralling structure of References Cited in the le of this patent UNITEDSTATES PATENTS Mutchler et al Dec. 6, 1932 Nebel Mar. 31, 1936 10 4-Quinn Feb. 28, 1939 Lahr Mar. 18, 1941 Beacham Iune 30, 1942 SheelerSept. 29, 1942 Jenard et al. Oct. 25, 1955 De Mond Feb. 14, 1956 WellerNov. 27, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain of 1894

